The Great Gatsby American Dream Analysis

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One of the most prominent motifs in the novel The Great Gatsby is the disillusionment of the American Dream. When the American Dream first surfaced in society, it was based on the ideas of freedom, excellence, and self-reliance. It challenged people to have dreams of spiritual greatness and strive to make them reality. However, over the years, these ideas have warped into purely materialistic values. Many people started to believe that a life of ease, with a fancy car and an extravagant house would bring them fulfillment. Gatsby represents the aspiring American who wishes for something beyond what he has. And yet, in the end, he failed to make his dream a reality due to the fact that he, like a majority of real Americans, misunderstood the true meaning of the American dream. In the novel The Great Gatsby, the story is told from the point of view of Nick, who came from the Midwest to the East Coast. At the beginning, Nick recognized Gatsby’s flaws and scorned his values, but by the end of the novel, Nick finds something heroic and noble in Gatsby’s vision and his extraordinary gift for hope. Gatsby was the son of a family of poor farmers, but he didn’t even consider them as his family at all. All he had to start was his Platonic conception of himself, which he was determined to make reality, and no amount of fire could challenge the fairytale vision he had for his life. He rose to riches, albeit by criminal activities, gaining the title of “new money”. He lived in West Egg, where all the “new money” folks lived, across from white palaces of old moneyed East Egg. Gatsby, ever since meeting Daisy during his time in the military, had envisioned and planned out his life with her in it. He gained a large amount of money, threw large, l... ... middle of paper ... ...ells him that he’s “worth the whole damn bunch,” meaning the rich of East Egg, “put together” (Fitzgerald 162). Nick says this because, even though Gatsby’s story is tainted by criminal activity, he is far more admirable than people like Tom and Daisy. That it’s not wealth or a life of leisure that makes a man great, it is his determination and devotion to both his dreams and the people he cares that makes him great. Money does not bring a person happiness, as seen by both Tom and Daisy, who are unhappy and bored with life. Not only does wealth not make one happy, it also causes a person to be very careless when it comes to the feelings of others. This all shows the disillusionment of the American Dream through Gatsby who tries for that which is very materialistic and doesn’t bring any true happiness while ignoring the qualities that prove the real worth of a person.

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